Setting the record straight: Canada Vapes response to recent media.

RE: Health related vaping news:

Over the past several weeks, there have been a great deal of news articles, reports, and social media posts surrounding vaping related illnesses and deaths in the United States, and more recently in Canada.

At Canada Vapes, we believe that knowledge is power. We would like to take this opportunity to share the facts about this developing situation, as well as share our own stance relating to our customer’s safety and our responsibility as a Canadian vape business. This allows us to clarify what we have done and are continuing to do to ensure that our customer’s health and well-being are at the forefront of our guiding principles.

Verifiable information regarding the illness in the United States is somewhat sparse, but from what we do know the most likely reason for these illnesses has been linked to an agent being added to black market THC oil infused vape pens (source). When THC distillate is created, it is very thick (similar to pine sap) and must be modified in order to be used in a vaping device. It is believed by some experts that a manufacturer, or several manufacturers are using Vitamin E acetate to modify the THC distillate for use in their THC vape pens (source). This may be the primary reason for these illnesses. We must re-state that this is the preliminary evidence provided by many news sources, however, it is important to understand the difference between a THC infused vaping pen and the products that are sold at Canada Vapes.

Canada Vapes does not sell THC oils, pens, or pods. Canada Vapes has always been very transparent in the ingredients of our e-liquid, and do not and have never used Vitamin E acetate. No products manufactured or sold by Canada Vapes have been linked to any known health issues. Information on our e-liquid manufacturing process can be found here.

We have a strong desire to see those involved with the production of these dangerous and potentially lethal THC vape pens shut down immediately and brought to justice.

When a situation such as this arises, it is important for our government and our media to be as specific as possible. The information provided by our media has been very generalized and should instead provide specific information regarding the particular product(s) being used that are causing this harm. Similar to the food industry, if a particular brand and type of meat were to be contaminated, we suggest our government force a recall and post a warning against consuming that product, and not recommend we stop eating altogether.

We are confident at Canada Vapes that the facts and details relating to these illnesses will vindicate the lawful vape companies who are safely producing and selling vaping products. We encourage all of those concerned to take a deep-dive into the information available and use critical thinking and common sense in order to make an informed decision regarding nicotine vaping and its potential benefits to your health and wellness.

We want to see improved consumer safety in the vaping industry as a top priority. Vague misleading news headlines such as this cause confusion within the general public. This could potentially lead to a reduction in smokers considering vaping as a harm reducing alternative compared to combustible cigarettes.

Canada Vapes supports vaping regulations, and we welcome additional government regulation requiring high safety standards in the vaping industry in Canada. We strictly adhere to our own high set of production standards, such as:

Use of USP and food grade ingredients approved and tested by Health Canada

Childproof & tamper evident caps

Lot numbers & Expiry dates on all e-liquid products

Canada Vapes strongly agrees with the recommendations of the CDC that individuals immediately stop THC infused vape pens purchased on the streets or by individuals not from a long standing reputable manufacture (source). Individuals vaping THC oils are taking an enormous risk using products that are not regulated and only available on the black market as these items have no safety or quality standards.

RE: Concerns about the rise in vaping among youth:

There has been news in Canada related to the increase in youth vaping numbers, and the availability of vaping products to youth. It has been suggested by some media outlets that vaping companies are actively attempting to influence youth into purchasing vape product through advertising and promotion of flavoured e-liquids. It has been suggested that banning flavours in e-liquid is the answer to this problem and would reduce youth vaping.

Canada Vapes makes every effort to keep vaping products, services, and marketing material out of the hands of minors. We take this responsibility to our community very seriously and have a comprehensive set of policies & mechanisms in place for both our online and retail environments. All customers in our retail store are ID checked in the same way as those visiting a beer or liquor store. Our retail staff have been trained by the Tobacco Enforcement Municipality (source) to correctly and accurately ID check every patron in our retail store on entering the premises. All first time customer orders are ID checked by Canada Post. Our website is age restricted. We will continue to explore additional ways to improve our business to further reduce any chance of underage individuals using our products.

Canada Vapes continues to support and work with industry leaders such as the Canadian Vaping Association, and legislators to shut down any vaping companies who would look to target our youth with advertising or promotions, or who sell vape products to those under the age of 19.

On many occasions we have been visited by the local Middlesex Health Unit(source) and can assure you that the Ontario Government is strictly policing the activities of vape shops to ensure they are not selling vape products to minors. The punishment for such infractions is severe in Ontario, starting at up to $20,000 fines for first time offences, with the potential to have your business banned from selling vape products with a second offence(source). We would like to make this clear: Canada Vapes has no interest in promoting or selling any of our vaping products to minors.

Parental discussions with children at a young age about healthy lifestyle choices, and dangers of addiction, should be prevalent in our society. Canada Vapes fully supports the recent addition of vaping awareness to the public school curriculum for empowering our Canadian youth to choose to live healthy lives. We further support the restrictions around public schools which do not allow vaping within 20 meters of any public schools(source). We support parents being the biggest & loudest voice in their child or teen’s life when discussing any adult activity or lifestyle choice.

We believe that adult vapers enjoy, and often prefer sweet and fruity flavours in their e-liquids. Having many flavour choices helps current smokers transition away from cigarettes to a harm reducing vaping product. We believe that limiting or banning these flavours would reduce the effectiveness of vaping to current smokers, thus turning many of them back to cigarettes which has been shown to be 95% more dangerous than vaping (source). Similarly to our liquor stores that offer adults a choice of fruity and sweet choices in their alcohol, including alcohol infused root beers and lemonades, tropical fruity drinks, and sweet candy liquors, we believe adult Canadian vapers deserve these same product choices.

Canada Vapes products are designed for adult smokers only. They are not designed for non-smokers, or anyone under the age of 19. If you are under the age of 19, and/or not a current smoker, please do not use any vaping products. Canada Vapes products are a risk reduction product, and are not considered safe to use. They are safer than and reduce the risk of those currently smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes, pipes, and cigars.

Our mission at Canada Vapes is to assist adult, smokers’ transition to less-harmful vaping products as an alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes as they pursue their personal health & lifestyle goals. Canada Vapes recognizes that our products, resources, and services are no substitute for qualified medical advice and recommend vapers should discuss all options with their doctor before considering vaping. In addition, Canada Vapes has and will continue to work in coordination with regulators, legislators, and industry groups including the Canadian Vaping Association to manufacture, promote, and sell vaping products in an ethical & responsible way.

Thank you,

Canada Vapes ownership & staff

This article was posted on September 24th, 2019. To the best of our knowledge It is accurate as of this date, and as information and results from CDC, Health Canada, and other community sources become more available this information may be changed or updated.

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